Team Canada Advances in Women’s Team Event
WINNIPEG (August 7, 2019) Canada’s Frédérique Lambert and Jennifer Saunders have advanced to the quarterfinal in the Women’s Team Event at the Lima 2019 Pan Am Games.
Lambert of Montreal and Saunders of Winnipeg went into the event seeded 10th. They faced Merynanyelly Delgado and Alejandra Jiménez of the Dominical Republic in Wednesday’s round of 16.
In the first round, Lambert defeated Delgado in singles in a tie-breaker with scores of 15-7, 7-15, 11-9. Lambert and Saunders then teamed up in doubles against the Dominican team but lost in two games, 15-12, 15-7. It was left to Saunders to come up with a win in order for the team to advance and she answered with a decisive win in two straight games against Jiménez, winning 15-4, 15-5.
“I’ve been in that pressure situation before where I had to win the last match of the team event so I felt confident,” said Jennifer Saunders. “But I also felt I needed to play better for Frédérique because I wasn’t happy how I played in the doubles match. I took that half hour between matches to reset and refocus.”
“It wasn’t my best performance ever,” said Lambert. “But I’m really happy we pulled it out. Now we have to get ready for tomorrow.”
The team faces Argentina on Thursday in the quarterfinal. The women’ medaled in both singles and doubles so Team Canada knows they have their work cut out for them.
“It’s a tough match-up,” said Saunders. “But we have nothing to lose now – we’re seeded 10th and they’re seeded 2nd. We just need to go in and be fearless and play the way we can.”
Team Canada men are seeded 4th in the Men’s Team Event. They had a bye in the round of 16 and face the Colombian team in Thursday’s quarterfinal.
Draws and results are posted on both the International Racquetball Federation (IRF) website as well as the Lima 2019 site, where you can view live scores.
Click here for the link to the IRF draw page.
Click here for the link to the Lima 2019 draws and results page.
It is expected that some matches may be streamed on the PanAm Sports Channel and ESPN or on the International Racquetball Federation Facebook Page. If you are interested in receiving the links, please watch for our announcements on social media or you can contact us to request an email with further information.
